Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 61: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the deadline for the proposed removal of all acute hospital services from Monaghan General Hospital which was last signalled for early summer 2009; if she will heed the final appeals of patients, healthcare workers and the community to prevent this removal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26283/09]

Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 87: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the amount of money spent on the preparation, printing and delivery of the leaflet Changes to the Delivery of Health Services in Cavan/Monaghan; if she is satisfied from the information available to her that Cavan General Hospital is in a position to deal with all the extra patients it will have to deal with when Monaghan General Hospital is taken off call; if she will provide a guarantee that the home care packages, with physio and all other related services that she guaranteed would be available, will be delivered; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26198/09]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 61 and 87 together.

The Transformation Programme for the North East region has been informed by the Teamwork Report to the Health Service Executive (HSE) which demonstrated that the service configuration in the region was unsustainable. A series of focused and necessary service changes are being implemented across the region.

The transfer of acute medical care from Monaghan General Hospital to Cavan is subject to a number of dependencies first being in place, including the development of an enhanced ambulance and pre-hospital thrombolysis service. The recently opened medical assessment unit at Cavan will also support the transfer of services from Monaghan. The timeframe for this transfer is currently under review by the HSE.

A number of additional measures and service improvements are being implemented in the Cavan-Monaghan area which will assist Cavan General Hospital in dealing with patients from Monaghan when acute in-patient care is transferred.

The HSE has informed me that the new medical assessment unit (MAU) at Cavan General Hospital which began to receive patients on 30 March 2009 has, up to 21 June, assessed and treated more than 900 patients.

This MAU is providing a fast track alternative for patients who require an urgent medical assessment. I welcome the information received by my Department from the HSE that the average time it takes from when a patient presents to the MAU until decision to admit or discharge is 3.5 hours, down from seven hours when these patients would have previously been managed in the emergency department. I am further informed by the HSE that 19 additional staff has been sourced-redeployed to provide the MAU service. The MAU is also currently assessing, treating and discharging 30-40% of referrals on the day, which is demonstrating its effectiveness to-date.

Space adjacent to the emergency department has been reconfigured to facilitate the development of the following units;

?A 24 hour observation ward which opened on 30 March 2009 to accommodate all patients who require observation for a period of 24 hours. This development will result in increased capacity in in-patient beds which will improve care for patients as they will avail of a bed in a more timely fashion.

?An admission unit also opened on 30 March 09 which will accommodate patients in an appropriate environment to await beds from the time of decision to admit is made until an in-patient bed is available.

Two permanent emergency department consultants have been appointed to Cavan General Hospital since 2007 and a third took up post in February 2009. The changes proposed by the HSE, which I support, are for reasons of patient safety. The HSE will continue to work with all stakeholders to bring about the improvements in a carefully planned way that puts patients first.

My Department has requested the HSE to reply directly to the Deputy on the further service matters raised.